Bring on the Thunder!

Lots of folks think we spend the year bundled up in scarves and mittens living here, but the truth is, it's pretty temperate - we haven't even gotten snow this winter.  Sadly, neither has the place that's our default ski hill so we've braved the grey, wet days rarely needing a heavy coat for any purpose other than to stay dry.  South Carolina has been colder [albeit about as wet, from what I understand] than our little corner of the world.

As a child, thunder was intimidating - especially in South Carolina.  In the South we get thunderstorms that bring with them bone rattling, earth shaking thunder complete with jagged lightening strikes and an occasional tornado warning. There have been times we've crammed into interior bathrooms or closets because of harsh weather and one of my college apartment complexes got hit by a tornado that was ushered in with thunder, lightening and hail. [Side note: I wasn't home when that happened...I was at a mall buying shoes riding out the tornado warning...it was eerie to return to complete darkness only lit by fire trucks and ambulances.] Thunder was scary sometimes and there were times I dreaded forecasts that included storms.

Here I sit, though, in Vancouver, British Columbia - no stranger to rain - not at all.  We get lots of rain here - just rain.  And it's a misty rain typically, just enough to warrant an umbrella and make the day seem to move slower - not the blinding gully washers of SC.  But today - ah today - there are THUNDERSTORMS in the forecast and I'm excited!  I haven't heard thunder in 18 months!  I didn't even know I missed thunder until I saw the forecast and my heart jumped a little in anticipation. So here's to you, thunder! I hope you stop to say 'hi' for a bit and conjure a little piece of our southern experience on this opposite side of the country.